Current and future students at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in the Bronx, New York City's poorest boroughs, will receive free tuition after a former faculty member donated $1 billion to the school.
Dr. Ruth Gottesman, 93, made the $1 billion donation in the name of her late husband, David "Sandy" Gottesman, who was an investor of Berkshire Hathaway and a longtime friend of Berkshire CEO Warren Buffet. Dr. Ruth Gottesman was a longtime professor of pediatrics at the college and is now serving as the chair of the board of trustees.
"I am very thankful to my late husband, Sandy, for leaving these funds in my care, and l feel blessed to be given the great privilege of making this gift to such a worthy cause," Dr. Ruth Gottesman said in a news release, as quoted by CNN.
Gottesman's gift to the Albert Einstein College is the largest ever donation to any U.S. medical school, the college said in a statement. Her gift is so large that it is set to cover the tuition of all current and future students in the medical school in perpetuity.
It is also a historic donation as many billionaires tend to donate hundreds of millions of dollars to better-known medical schools in Manhattan, the city's wealthiest borough. In comparison, the Bronx is considered the poorest borough in New York City and is known for having a high rate of premature deaths.
How Will the Albert Einstein College of Medicine Adopt a Tuition-Free Model?
We are profoundly grateful that Dr. Ruth Gottesman, Professor Emerita of Pediatrics at @EinsteinMed, has made a transformational gift to #MontefioreEinstein—the largest to any medical school in the country—that ensures no student has to pay tuition again. https://t.co/XOy9HZLbfD pic.twitter.com/1ijv02jHFk
— Montefiore Health System (@MontefioreNYC) February 26, 2024
Following Gottesman's donation, all current fourth-year students are set to be reimbursed for their spring 2024 tuition. Beginning August, all current and future students will attend the Albert Einstein College of Medicine for free.
The donation is expected to be "transformational" for the medical school and is "intended to attract a talented and diverse pool of individuals who may not otherwise have the means to pursue a medical education," which is exactly Gottesman's goal, she told The New York Times.
Additionally, Gottesman said her donation would allow new doctors to begin their career without being saddled by medical school debt. A year's tuition at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine is more than $59,000, which would leave graduates with over $200,000 in debt.
Prior to the $1 billion donation, the Gottesman couple also gifted the school $25 million in 2010 that went towards creating the Institute for Stem Cell Research and Regenerative Medicine.
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